Bumps in the Road
by penelo14
Summary: Takes place after the Smackdown when Mark Henry returned and had a segment with Roman. Roman leaves directly after his segment without telling Dean. Dean doesn't know what to think...


I own none of the characters in the story, they all belong to the WWE.

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"You alright back there Dean?"

Dean's head jerked up at the question, confused eyes looking at Dolph's through the rear view mirror. He slowly nodded, mumbling an 'I'm fine' before bowing his head back down. Dolph didn't miss the sad tone in his voice, causing his heart to ache as he gripped the steering wheel tightly. He glanced around the car, Ryback sat in the passenger, looking out the window. In the back behind Ryback sat Erick, who was fast asleep. His head resting awkwardly against the window and a blanket over his lap, where his sheep mask rests as well. Truth was behind Dolph, trying to comfort Dean who was in the middle. Dolph sighed sadly, Dean looked so hurt, so…broken, so unlike him. He doesn't remember him being like this since the Shield split, and even then it wasn't this bad. He thought inviting Dean to travel to the next town with him and the others would help him a little. He didn't want Dean to travel alone, fearing what could happen to him.

"Excited for Wrestlemaina?" Ryback asked after some time of silence.

Dean nodded meekly again, not meeting his eyes.

"Hell yeah!" Truth piped in. "Hard to believe it's only mere weeks away. Can't wait to win that title."

"Sorry, but I'M going to win that title and finally bring some honor back to it." Dolph chimed. He glanced at the mirror again, waiting for Dean to make a comeback of his own, but got nothing. Dean kept his head bowed and didn't say a word.

"Bet the Andre Battle Royal gets more over than the ladder match." Ryback said with a smirk.

"That a challenge man?" Truth asked, amused.

"Sounds like it." Dolph followed. "What does the loser pay?"

"You guys are so loud." Erick groaned as he awoke from his slumber. Dean looked up at him briefly before returning his gaze to the floor.

"Sorry man. You sleep alright?" Truth asked.

"As good as I could get in a car." He looked over at Dean, worried that he hasn't said much since the trip started. He placed a strong hand on the smaller man's shoulder, squeezing slightly. "What were you guys discussing?"

"Ryback over here thinks the battle royal will get more over than the ladder match at Mania." Dolph explained.

"Well it will." Ryback countered. "It's a thirty man over the top rope battle royal, honoring an icon in the industry."

"Think about what it did for Cesaro." Dolph started. "He won the battle royal last year and was depushed for months before finally getting anything. He recently became Tag Team champs with Tyson Kidd, someone else who was getting depushed."

"I don't even care if I win." Erick chimed in. "I just want Kane and Show out before me."

"I'll help you out there. We'll take them out as soon as the bell rings." Ryback said, fist-bumping Erick.

"Deal. Maybe you and Mark Henry will be the last two and you can have your Wrestlemania rematch with him."

Ryback grinned, "That would be awesome. Then I can finally redeem myself for that loss. The Big Guy is stealing the show!"

"You mean the Showoff is stealing the show." Dolph countered. "It's what I do best dude."

The conversation came to a halt when the hush sound of Dean's name was heard. The three turned to see Dean's head resting on Truth's shoulder, eyes shut and his body trembling. Erick placed the blanket over Dean's body as Truth tried getting an arm around his shoulders. Soon, the trembling stopped and his body went slack.

"He asleep?" Ryback asked.

"…Yeah." Truth sighed.

"Alright, what's going on?" Ryback asked. "Why is he like this? Did something happen?"

"He usually travels with Roman." Erick commented. "Did they have a disagreement or something?"

"…Not a disagreement per say, but something did happen." Dolph said, anger present in his voice.

"So start explaining then." Ryback demanded.

"…During the Smackdown taping, Roman left the arena as soon as his segment ended."

"He left? Why?" Erick asked.

"Him, the Uso's and Naomi went to Florida to visit family. They won't be back until Sunday."

"So…him leaving made Dean like this? He wasn't like this when Roman got hurt in September." Ryback commented.

"…The thing is…Roman didn't tell Dean he was leaving." Truth said sadly, rubbing his hand up and down Dean's arm. "He just up and left after his segment with Henry."

"Wait, back up a sec." Ryback started. "Roman didn't tell Dean, someone he considers a brother, that he was leaving for Florida with his cousins and one of the cousins' wives?"

"That's exactly what fucking happened." Dolph gritted out. "As I'm heading for my rental at the end of the show, Daniel's running up to me, saying no one saw Dean leave or have any clue where he is and everyone's tearing the place apart looking for him. We join the search and eventually find him in the very back of the arena, sitting on the floor, just…on the verge of breaking. He was worse than he was when Seth betrayed them. I asked what happened and he said he was looking for Roman and couldn't find him. A staff member told him the story. A fucking _staff member_ told him everything."

"But why would Roman not tell Dean?" Erick asked. "I mean, I overheard Naomi tell all the girls about the trip, and both Usos were telling people. How come Dean was out of the loop?"

"I don't fucking know!" Dolph shouted. "I don't know why he didn't tell his brother he was leaving. I don't even know why they left in the first place. All I know is that he left and now Dean feels betrayed all over again!"

Silence filled the car after that save for Dean's soft snores. Dolph decided to break that silence after some time with a sad sigh, "Sorry. It's just…I don't understand why Roman did what he did."

"Maybe there was a family emergency?" Erick suggested.

"If that were the case then there would have been a meeting about it and everyone would have been told." Dolph countered.

"Maybe it's for the storyline between him and Lesner." Ryback suggested. "I mean, Heyman keeps bringing up his family legacy. Maybe the trip is specifically for the storyline."

"And the Usos are his cousins, Naomi is married to Jimmy. They probably went to support him and to help push the storyline." Erick said.

"But still, even if that's the case, why wasn't Dean told?" Dolph sighed sadly, "I mean, does he value the main title more than his own brother? The least he could have done was tell him about the trip and made sure someone would carpool with him until he came back."

"Dean's not an invalid though." Ryback said sternly. "Roman doesn't have to baby him. But I do agree that he should have at least told Dean-"

A whimper cut off his train of thought, coming from the direction of the backseat. All turned to see Dean whimpering in his sleep, reaching out for something.

"…Don't go…" he whimpered, trying to grab at something. "Don't leave me behind…Ro. I…don't want to be alone again…"

Dolph growled, quickly pulling over to the side of the road. He turned around and took Dean's hand in his. "Dean, wake up." he said, squeezing his hand slightly. "It's all a dream. You're not alone. Wake up, please."

Dean's eyes popped open, panting loudly as his eyes locked onto the joined hands.

"Dean?" Truth asked, worried. "You ok man?"

"…Y-Yeah…"

"You sure?" Erick asked, placing a strong hand on Dean's shoulder again, "You seem to be in shock. Do you want to discuss it?"

Dean pondered for a moment, his eyes never leaving the joined hands. The dream…felt very real…and it frightened him. But…at the same time, he didn't want to burden the others with his problems. He slowly shook his head as he mumbled "…No…"

Although he didn't want to talk, Dolph had a pretty good guess on what the dream was about. With Dean begging for Roman not to leave him behind kind of gave it away. He could almost envision the dream: Roman walking away; Dean stuck in place and reaching for his brother, begging for him not to abandon him; Roman not hearing a word and continuing to walk until he disappeared. He feels he should say something to him, to reassure him that he's not alone, that he's alright. But he's not sure if it would be accepted, or if it even was wanted. But…seeing the shocked look in his eyes from staring at the joined hands made him want to reassure him. "Dean…" he started. "We got your back ok? You don't have to worry, we're here for you."

Dean moved his gaze from the hands to Dolph's face, as if trying to read his eyes. He got scared of what Dean was looking for. Was he looking for honestly? Falsehood? Was he scared of his words? Did he not expect them? Does he not believe them? Before either could speak another word, Ryback's voice brought them out of their thoughts.

"So, I heard they're planning on putting someone from NXT in the battle royal. Another reason it'll be more over than the ladder match."

All could tell what he was trying to do, steer away from an uncomfortable topic. Dean motioned for Dolph to continue the trip, earning a nod from the bleach blonde as he let go and pulled back on the road. As Dolph and Ryback playfully bickered, Dean's eyes found their home on the floor again. Truth could sense the dream really scared Dean. A smile formed on his lips as an idea came to mind to cheer the dirty blonde up.

"Yo Dolph! Are we there yet?" he whined.

"Truth, don't start that." Dolph warned. "You know how long the trip will be."

"How much further?"

"About another few hours or so."

Truth whined again. A few moments passed before he opened his mouth again. "How about now?"

"No Truth." Dolph said with a deep sigh.

"You drive so slow man. Dean, doesn't he drive slowly?"

Dean slowly lifted his head, a small smile formed on his lips as he spoke, "You are kind of slow man. Cesaro would have gotten us there in record time. He's a speed demon on the road."

"Oh is he now?" Dolph challenged. "I bet he gets a bunch of tickets."

"Actually, he doesn't get any." Dean responded. "Seriously, one time I traveled with him and one minute we were on the road and the next we arrived at the hotel."

"Well I'm sorry for following the traffic laws and trying to not cause accidents. Now you two better calm yourselves." Dolph warned playfully. "We will be at the next town soon."

Truth whined while everyone else erupted in laugher. Dolph was elated; at least Dean was smiling and having fun.

About a half hour later, both Truth and Dean started whining again.

"C'mon man!" Truth whined, kicking the back of Dolph's seat. "Aren't we there yet?"

"Yeah? Are we even close?" Dean chimed in, joining Truth in kicking Dolph's seat.

Dolph growled, trying to focus on the road rather than their antics. He quickly saw a gas station and decided to pull in. He stopped in front of one of the pumps and shut the car off. Before anyone could ask, Dolph exited the car and opened the backdoor.

"You two are so dead." he growled before reaching for Truth. Both men quickly scrambled away from the angry blonde. Both climbing over Erick, exiting the car and ran all over the station, laughing and taunting Dolph to try to catch them. Ryback and Erick merely chuckled at the sight, getting out of the car themselves to watch.

"Get back here!" Dolph shouted.

"Nope." Dean replied in laughter. "You have to catch us."

"C'mon Showoff!" Truth shouted.

What a sight to behold, three men running around a gas station like children on a playground. Ryback and Erick were both amused with the sight. Erick started getting the gas in the car after a few minutes of watching.

Truth and Dean soon started coming towards the bystanders. Truth climbed onto Ryback, who grunted and yelled at him to get off. Dean tried getting on top of the car, but Dolph got behind him, wrapped his arms around the Ohioan's waist and pulled him off.

"Got you!" Dolph cheered as Dean struggled to get out of the hold. Dean's laughter filled his ears, making him smile and laugh with him. It soon died down and Dean stopped struggling. Dolph gently put him down and turn him around so their eyes locked.

"You ok?"

Dean nodded, trying to catch his breath. "I…needed that. …Thanks man."

Dolph smiled, "Welcome."

Ryback, after getting Truth off of him, came up behind them, wrapping his arms around their necks. "Sorry to break this up, but I need to borrow Dean for a bit. Me and Truth are going to the store to get some snacks for the rest of the trip, coming?"

Dean nodded, "Sure."

As the three headed inside, Dolph came up to Erick, who watched everything unfold. "Is he doing better? He seemed to enjoy himself."

"Yeah, he's alright now. Hopefully he'll patch things up with Roman and be back to his old self."

"You're still going to murder Roman aren't you?"

"Damn straight! The man needs some kind of lecture after the stunt he pulled. He's not getting off scott free for this."

Erick laughed and looked at the direction of the store, wondering how Dean and Roman would get over the bump in their brotherhood.


End file.
